NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – When Cisco Systems reports earnings on Tuesday afternoon, it will likely be (as Yogi Berra might say) déjà vu all over again.

For the past few quarters, the networking equipment titan has had a similar message for Wall Street, namely that the corporate-technology spending environment isn't improving and that Cisco is holding up better than most due to cost cutting and market share gains.

So don't be surprised if CEO John Chambers once again bemoans the lack of visibility regarding the near-term outlook.

"There aren't too many chief executives that want to go sticking their necks out," said David Fowler, president of Lincoln Capital, a money management firm that runs the Ariel Premier Growth fund. "It's going to be very much a replay of past conference calls."

According to First Call, analysts are expecting earnings of 13 cents a share for Cisco's fiscal second quarter, up from 9 cents a year ago. But sales are expected to drop slightly -- to $4.7 billion from $4.8 billion a year ago.

Regardless, investors will be more interested in what the company has to say about the future. And since the current quarter, which ends in April, is typically the weakest for the company, it's doubtful that Cisco will be predicting robust demand.

Another problem, points out Drake Johnstone, an analyst with Davenport & Co., is that mounting war fears will probably hold back IT spending. Johnstone doesn't own the stock and Davenport does no investment banking for Cisco.

For the April quarter, analysts expect earnings of 13 cents a share, up from 11 cents, on flat revenue growth.

"Cisco is scratching really hard to keep revenues flat," said William Becklean, an analyst with Commerce Capital Markets. Becklean does not own shares of Cisco and his firm has not performed investment banking for the company.

To be sure, Cisco may very well up its earnings and sales guidance for the quarter. But more important, says Fowler, is the reason -- i.e., some sign of an uptick in demand, not just cost cutting and more market share gains. Cisco is one of the five largest holdings in the Ariel Premier Growth fund and Fowler does not own any other networking equipment stocks.

It will be interesting to see if Cisco discusses what plans it has for its sizable cash hoard -- which stood at $21.2 billion as of the end of Cisco's last quarter (including investments). Although Cisco shareholders in November voted down a proposal to have the company pay a dividend, times have changed a lot since then.

First, there's President Bush's economic stimulus package, which calls for the elimination of taxes paid by individuals on dividends. And, too, Microsoft has decided to pay a dividend, announcing it last month on the same day it reported its quarterly earnings.

First Albany analyst Matt Barzowkas says that since shareholders voted against a dividend just a little more than two months ago, it's highly unlikely that Cisco will reverse course Tuesday night. But Barzowkas adds that if there are changes to the way dividends are taxed, Cisco will need to revisit the situation.

Cisco might discuss its acquisition strategy as well. Cisco has historically been an acquisitive company, using its stock to finance deals. To that end, Cisco announced in late January that it was buying privately held Okena, a security software developer, for about $150 million.

Becklean says that Cisco needs to continue making deals in areas like security, storage and wireless networking in order to expand outside of its core business of selling switches and routers since that business is becoming more mature. What's more, Cisco is even starting to face tougher competition on low-end routers and switches from Dell Computer.

So what about Cisco's stock? Barring a more optimistic outlook, Barzowkas says that he sees no reason why the stock just won't bounce around between $10 and $15 for the foreseeable future. It closed at $13.48 Monday. Barzowkas does not own the stock and his firm has no investment banking relationship with Cisco.

The stock is not ridiculously expensive, trading at 22 times estimates for its next fiscal year, which ends in June 2004. But since earnings are only expected to increase 13 percent in that fiscal year, the stock isn't exactly cheap either.

Johnstone says the stock is a good long-term buy at these levels but that investors could probably sit tight until the company is able to show more revenue improvement and an increased level of orders. "I don't anticipate that happening for a couple of quarters," Johnstone said.